Real. Local. Fashion.

Menu

Pantone Predicts a Cool, Counterbalanced Spring

For over 20 years, the Pantone Color Institute, the standard-setting authority on color, has surveyed industry experts to bring us each season’s color trends. Across the globe, designers, retail buyers, and CEO’s anticipate Pantone’s Fashion Color Report as a major market indicator. The palettes highlighted in these reports translate to goods spanning bed spreads, toothbrushes, eye shadow, and ball gowns, in countless color-conscious sectors.

This week, as the year of Emerald Green moves toward its close, Pantone has released its 2014 report. The outlook remains cool and composed. Leatrice Eiseman, executive director of the Pantone Color Institute, explains, “Consumers are looking for a state of thoughtful, emotional, and artistic equilibrium.”

To satisfy these seekers of stasis, Pantone developed an array of “soft pastels” counterbalanced by “vivid brights.” In the lead are two complimentary shades of blue, Placid and Dazzling. The latter fronts the pack as designers’ top choice. Rounding out the range are Violet Tulip, Hemlock, Freesia, Cayenne, Celosia Orange, Radiant Orchid, and neutral base tones Paloma and Sand.

The full Pantone Fashion Color Report for Spring 2014 is available for free download here. Inside, designers from Rachel Roy to Sachin + Babi to Nanette Lepore share sketches (shown above) and must-have items for the coming year. Pantone Universe products are also available at Sephora, Lowes, and JCPenney, perfectly packaged to paint our personal universes in the prescribed palette.